Harare — There was once a seductive voice that stole the hearts of many music lovers before it went quiet.

Such was the voice of the "Queen" from Makokoba, Beater Mangethe, who stamped her own name on the gold plate of the local music scene with her unique style and dances before being wiped out like chalk from a slate.

Just at a time when most people thought that Beater had finally struck the right chord with her album "Succeed" -- that featured Sungura music icon Alick Macheso on bass guitar apart from alternating with her on lead vocals -- she vanished like mist.

While word did the rounds in Bulawayo that the diva -- who is married to footballer Lenny Gwata -- had fallen sick, it finally emerged that she had traded the microphone and dancing shoes for pots and pans.

Beater is reportedly working as a waitress at a restaurant in Johannesburg, South Africa. The musician is reported to have said that she opted to relocate to Egoli after failing to sustain herself and family from music.

Hers is the story of a musician who had all the fame from her career that unfortunately could not bring food on her table, leading to frustration and eventually reaching at the hard decision of ditching music for a better-paying job.

In an interview with Saturday Trends in May last year, Beater could not hide her bitterness about the little rewards she was getting from music and how she finally relocated to South Africa.

"I work at a restaurant and the money is not bad. I left music in Zimbabwe, to tell the truth, for now I am not thinking of recording anything . . . My husband and son joined me after I had been here for some time," she said.

The fact the artiste took along her son Wesley fuelled speculation that she might be settling in South Africa permanently. "The first person who followed me here was our son Wesley. He now goes to school here," said Beater.

Even her husband Lenny said leading a quiet and down-to-earth life in South Africa far away from the bright stage lights and celebrity life they were leading in Zimbabwe.

"We are better off unknown in South Africa than being popular in Zimbabwe with no cent to show off for it. We can afford to lead a good life this side than what we could do when I played football and she did her music thing. "We love music and football because those are our talents but at the end we have to fend for our family and so we chose this route," he said.

She also said that she had not forgotten her friends, family members and fans in Zimbabwe. "However, I can't rule it (recording new material) because I grew up with music as an artiste at Amakhosi. We will be in Zimbabwe in the near future," said Beater.

The diva started off her career as an actress before venturing into dance and music. She went through veteran playwright and director Cont Mhlanga's hands starring in plays like Hoyaya Ho, and Mdawini, among others. In 1996, she was the lead actor in the television drama series Stitsha.

Beater was born in Lupane in 1978 in a family of 23. Ever since her album "Succeed", people have been starved of the beautiful voice and face from Makokoba.